How much speech therapy and occupational therapy should a child with autism receive?

Question

My son is nonverbal he receives 1 hr each for his therapies.he is now 6 and i beleive he needs more.we live in texas but what other avenues can i approach to get more help for him?

Answer 1

For the OT unless he is really disorganized and having meltdowns (screaming fit lasting more than 20 minutes) more than 1 a day, 1 OT session a week is sufficient.  My son 33 months gets OT twice a week.  His sensory system is extremely sensitive and he is frequently disorganized.  We are lucky to have an OT that has specialized in Autism and sensory issues.  A lot of his progress is from us reinforcing what she is showing us.  IF your OT isn't sensory based and is primarily focusing on fine motor control my advice is to find another OT.  It could be that the sensory issues are holding your son's speech back.  When my son is organized he communicates either verbally or nonverbally so much better.  For speech my son also gets this twice a week but we have been unable to get a good speech therapist.  In the past yr we have had 3.  Is your son using PECS cards to communicate?  Have you gotten medicaid for him or disability income?  Medicaid is convering Greenspan's floortime therapies.  Contact the autism society of your state, they should have loads of info. for you.   I have found parents to be the best resource.  Have you been to an Autism Conference?  Where I am located in DE we are close to a lot of support, so I don't know how it is in Texas.  Delaware has AI Dupont hospital and we are close to Stanley Greenspan in MD and Kennedy Krieger in MD is the autism hot spot and many parents of autistic spectrum kids also take their child to CHOP in Phila.  Also Barry Brazelton and Temple Grandin come through each year.  Has your neurologist been knowledgeable and able to point you in the right direction?

Answer 2

i would suggest going 3 to 4 times a week for 45 min to an hour a day and maybe you should take him somewhere where he can have private speech classes if your doing it through the school so he can have one on one time and get more accomplished

Answer 3

It depends on the child.

It also depends on what is considered to be educationally necessary versus medically necessary.

that sounds like a typical amount for what you are describing.

The ST and OT should be carried over by the classroom teachers and aids so that it is incorporated throughout the day.

you can try to get your health insurance to cover it-but often they won't-you will have more luck if your child seemed to be developing normally and than lost skills as a toddler.  Many issurance will not cover speech therapy unless speech was presant, but then lost